As Kaden rushed through the trees, the sweet scent of nature invaded his senses, although he was fearful of his father, the allure of the outdoors held a tight grasp on him since young. He often spent much of time in the valley to train in martial arts. It was nothing too fancy, just a set of basic fist techniques and movements his mother taught him before she passed years ago. Kazel had offered to teach him more advanced techniques but Kaden flatly refused him outright everytime.
For him, whenever he executed the technique he would remember his mother. So much time has passed since those days, more and more often he finds himself struggling to recall the sound of her sweet voice as she sang him lullabies, her embrace as he clung to her in times of hardship, he gorgeous deep blue eyes that gazed at him with a special type of warmth. Yet regardless of how much time had passed he would never forget her stories, the wonderful tales of dangerous adventures across mountains and seas, the various Beast Master battles powerful enough to shake the heavens and the look of longing in her eyes and she spoke them.
Kaden was a stubborn young man, once he set his mind on something it was nearly impossible to get him to change it. The moment his mother taught him those simple movements he decided then and there that he would carve his own path using his mother's legacy. He had a dream, a wild and fantastical dream, to take her and go on a grand adventure around the world if only her teachings.
It was something he'd been planning for awhile now, the only problem was his father. "He's been talking crazy lately, speaking of things like succession and whatnot. I refuse to stay cooped up in this tiny village for the rest of my life."
At the thought of his father, Kaden began to run a little faster, the last time he angered his father his ass ached for days...
He soon reached the entrance of the village swiftly passing by a few poorly built houses, as he approached the villages gathering area he heard a very loud far off shout, "You! Where is he?!" At the stark order a poor youth was scared shitless, "S-sir, I think he might be in that valley in the mountains again sir."
It was no secret where he went day in and day out, many of his friends often followed him there to mess around or train. It was a nice place for peace and quiet and the surrounding plant and wildlife calmed one's soul.
As soon as the youth finished speaking a stern look appeared on Kazels face and his gaze shifted towards the edge of the gathering area. Kaden was leaning against a post panting heavily from fatigue. As he noticed his father looking at him and very distinct gulping sound rang out. He took and deep breathe, patted down his dusty clothes and walked towards Kazel.
"Sorry father, I lost track of time haha." He said with a look of slight embarrassment. He tread on at a constant pace and only stopped when he stood beside Kazel. Suddenly, piercing pain assaulted the underside of his arm, clenching his teeth he struggled to keep a plastic smile plastered on his face.
After pinching the hell out of Kaden, Kazel once again spoke up. "Sorry about that every one, as I was saying, today my son turns 17 and he will be the guest of honor during today's ceremony. Kaden you know the deal touch the stone."
Hearing this, Kaden grew increasingly more excited, without a single shred of hesitation he swiftly left his father's side and approached the awakening pearl. As he stretched out his hand he felt slight fluctuations in the deepest depths of his consciousness. The moment he made contact with the pearl, a wave of black energy invaded his body and crashed directly into that consciousness space.
Within his consciousness he sensed a spherical object, a very strange and illusory object without substance. Wisps of strange milky white energy continuously revolved around the sphere attempting to take a corporeal form. Between the gaps of those wisps Kaden could sense a very profound truth, within that wisp was his soul, the miracle of life. The moment that black energy invaded his mind it aggressively shot towards that sphere. Kaden felt the fluctuations of his consciousness exponential increase, attempting to combat that mysterious energy the wisps of energy that were surrounding his soul shot out with a fierce momentum.
As the two opposite colored energies made contact, the expected 'crash' didn't take place. Instead the pearl's black energy slowly began to incorporate itself into the wisps of milky white energy, and strange transformations began to take place as the two energies began to mix, as the process continued the energies slowly clumped up around his soul into a cocoon with blue and red swirls.
Suddenly a crisp 'crack' sounded from its surface, and a small calf slowly stumbled out from the cocoon. The calf had fur patches of dark red and a deep blue and was incredibly feeble, as it stepped forward its tiny body swayed left and right as if it'd fall with even the slightest gust of wind, yet it eyes radiated a type of stubbornness undaunted since time immemorial. Using all its efforts it trudged on in that mysterious space with an unnatural perseverance continuously trudging along the circumference of his soul.
In that moment Kaden experienced an unimaginable sense of satisfaction coming from the depths of his consciousness. He felt as if his mind and body were now a solid and complete whole. As he slowly left that mysterious state, he began to look around and discovered his father was looking at him stunned. As Kazel noticed his son looking at him, he snapped out of his stupor and announced the results of the awakening with a voice tinged with pity.
"Hellflood Ox, attributes of fire and water." As he spoke these words, many of the villagers looked at Kaden shocked. It wasn't a very rare occurrence for a person to have multiple attributes, there existed many types of beasts in this world and any sort of mutation was possible. What really left them shocked were his attributes, fire and water, two polar opposites existing in conjunction. After a short silence, a villager began to clap, seemingly not understanding the significance of such an occurrence, and the rest followed soon after. The only person with a look of uncertainty was Kazel as a very curious and troubled expression hung on his face as his hands produced slow and deep claps.
Kaden walked back to his father side with a very satisfied smile, the sensation of awakening his beast soul made him very happy. As he smiled at his father he failed to recognize the helpless look his father shot back. Kazel suddenly spoke, "Now that all the awakenings have been completed it's now time to have some fun! Let's celebrate!"
As soon as the words left his lips, chattering voice once again resounded. Clinking cups and wares clashed as the villagers gorged on the delicious delicacies. The drunks were laughing and swaying, occasionally someone would quickly scurry to a restroom or a nearby tree. All the newly awakened youngsters were happily chatting and talking about their dreams and aspirations now that their beast souls had finally awakened.
Kaden on the other hand, aside from a few casual conversations, sat quietly at the end of the table closest to his father. He was immersing himself in the feelings his beast soul gave him as it left the cocoon and the feelings that awoke within him as it determinedly pressed forward. He felt a sincere connection with the beast, as if they were one in the same and yet different. This was the strange thing about Beast Souls, no one really new why humans had them. They were an enigma in every sense of the word. Every beast soul had a corresponding beast and aside from a few extinct ancient existences they all exist somewhere on the Earthen Bestial Planet.
As he was trying to wrap his head around this new feeling his father approached, placed his hand on his shoulder and whispered, "follow me." He turned and walked in the direction of their home and quickly disappeared behind the doors. Although Kaden found it a little strange, he didn't question it and immediately followed right after leaving the happy atmosphere behind.